Read below the text of my "G.Ramachandran Endowment Lecture" delivered at Gandhigram Rural Institute, Tamilnadu on 6 March 2015 on theme :
Challenges of 21st Century: Lessons from Gandhi
The fast-emerging global socio-political and
economic scenario is an eloquent reminder of the speed with which the forces
released by science and technology and aided by human greed have succeeded in
dismantling almost at one stroke all what humanity hitherto believed
invincible. Nothing is sacrosanct now. The geopolitical compulsions and the mad
frenzy of both developed and developing nations to appropriate for themselves
all what they can lay their hands on, reminds us of the haste and anxiety seen
among the proverbial nocturnal thieves to plunder completely and decamp with
the booty before anyone wakes up in the house. It appears that a kind of
colonial instinct also guides modern man in all his activities. Only the label
changes, the bottle and the decoction continue to be the same.
The Major Challenges
The major challenges of the
twenty-first century are :
i) Taming the
monster of violence and keeping it within limits besides eliminating terrorism,
both physical and psychic.
ii) Ensuring
equitable distribution of wealth and natural resources; also to cry a halt to
the exploitation and insensitivity shown in preserving balance in nature.
iii) Elimination
of poverty and hunger.
iv) Increasing
reliance of rulers and politicians on religious fundamentalist elements and
forces to capture power and sustain themselves in power by exploiting religious
sentiments,
v) Decline of
moral, spiritual and ethical considerations and the extending tentacles of
consumerism and crass materialism.
vi) All of a
sudden, economics has overtaken and pushed all other branches of human
endeavour to insignificant positions.
vii) Religions
and ethical values that have been nourishing and sustaining civilisations for
centuries are no longer of any significance.
viii) Traditional
societies are alarmingly breaking-up, and there is a spread of the cult of
violence even in families.
ix) Nurturing of
unprincipled political order and fostering irrelevant cultural semantics.
x) Appearance
of militarisation in a new garb and stalking of dehumanising poverty and
malnutrition which still affect more than one third of the global community are
of no concern to the managers of human destiny now.
xi) The general
discrimination despite all brave talks and initiatives, the apathy and the kind
of cynicism with which morality and ethics are being viewed and abused.
xii) The callous
indifference shown to Mother Earth and the manner in which nature is being
exploited thinking that there is inexhaustible wealth hidden beneath the
surface and many similar disturbing and unhealthy trends with which modern
civilisation is associated with, have been sending dangerous signals and all
those who care for human survival are desperately looking for signals which
would send some rays of hope - hope that everything is not lost and that it is
not too late.
Where are we heading to?
To policy
planners and all shades of other “masters of the world”, economic well-being
appears to be the sole of purpose of life and the manner in which value systems
are being trampled upon does not bother them at all. The mild or muted concern
expressed by a large number of concerned souls does not reach the deaf ears of
the self-styled “champions” either. The
unanswered question is: where are we heading to?
The
drum-beaters and self-styled (self-appointed) custodians of emerging trends,
perhaps, are impervious to the following paradoxes:
n While
absolute poverty has decreased globally, relative poverty has increased.
n More people
have become literate. But access to information and technology have become
concentrated and centralised.
n More
countries have become democratised but there is greater concentration of power.
n Communication
explosion but growing alienation, family break up, lack of communication at
individual level has become rampant.
By ‘growth’,
what is meant today is economic growth and man has all of a sudden been reduced
to the level of commodity whose worth is determined by factors other than what
distinguishes them from the beast.
Moral
values, ethics, spirituality, family values, religious insights have all seemed
to have lost their place in the emerging global scenario. Ethics and morality
appear to be out of tune with the ethos of the global village. Globalisation
has thrust itself to the forefront.
The weakening hold of religion and the
deterioration of the nation-state, leading to global integration mostly on the
strength of economic prosperity of the industrially rich and developed nations
which by and large are in the driver’s seat today, have led to a situation
where vast iniquities that divided the small minority of haves from the huge
majority of have-nots.
Dangers of blind globalisation
Very few,
unfortunately, appear to be conscious of the dangers of blind globalisation in their anxiety to
take advantage of its so-called benefits. The economic liberalisation and
technological automation threaten to widen even further existing economic,
social, political and cultural disparity.
Global justice will be a far
cry unless bold initiatives are undertaken to overcome these disparities. The
declining importance of nation-state in favour of global village concept has
confounded the situation further since the present uni-polar politics and
hegemony of the superior currencies
dictate terms to the poor cousins in the South.
The extending tentacles of violence
Of all these, the most
disturbing is the alarming manner in which violence is spreading - spreading
like a cancer. The biggest challenge to the present century will be how to tame
this monster. Besides eating into the vitals of all what humanity has been able
to achieve, it threatens to hold humanity to ransom and is in the driver’s seat
now. The chilling factor in this sordid and frightening scenario is the speed
with which violence has sent shock waves everywhere. Violence is no longer the
luxury of the industrialised or developed nations or those kept under long
years of colonial rule but it is everywhere. Let us look at what the National
Centre of Education Statistics of the Department of Education in Washington DC
pointed out at a news conference:
·
100,000 children take a gun to school every day (Children’s
Defence Fund says as many as 135,000)
·
160,000 will miss school because of fear of injury
320,000 per month 60,000 per day
·
2,000 young people attacked before every hour in a working day
282,000 per month 14,100 per day
·
900 teachers threatened and nearly 40 attacked per hour 125, 000
Threatened each month 8,250 threatened
per day
·
5, 200 physically attacked each month
260
per day 37 per hour
·
Every 36 minutes - a child is killed or injured by a firearm -
over 14,000 per year.
·
1986 -1990 - 250 hostage
incidents - using guns - in 35 states.
Despite all
the impressive gains mankind has achieved in the present century through
intelligent harnessing of science and technology which brought in unexpected
and unimaginable results in various fields, the world today is on the throes of
several global crises. Conflicts and
tension of all sorts are increasing, sending shock waves all around.
With the disappearance of the Soviet Union as
the leader of block-of nations, the world has become uni-polar. If anybody believed that the cold-war years
have ended and humanity could live in peace henceforth, his hopes have been
completely belied as could be seen from the various disturbing fighting and
raging violence and senseless killings in various parts of the world. Notwithstanding all high sounding assurances
on arms reductions and cuts in military expenditure, we see an alarming
escalation in the production of lethal weapons.
It is estimated that there is an annual-worldwide consumption of 1000
billion dollars on arms alone. Even
one-sixth of this huge amount is sufficient enough to remove world hunger in
the next six years.
Where have
we gone wrong? Have we lost all our
concern for our less fortunate brethren? Almost all the planning models we have
experimented have strong elitist bias and connotation of moneymaking and
influence building seem to be the base of all the models we have been
experimenting with in recent times. This has led to serious consequences in
many areas.
The tendency of urbanisation is as old as
human civilisation and it is a natural consequence of a changing society. In
fact this process was considered a welcome development on grounds of economies
of scale reduction of disturbances, and efficient sharing of resources
generated through the adoption of urbanisation.
With industrialisation, a new element was introduced and people who own
means of production gradually usurped the fruits of industrialisation and a new
class of people emerged.
Impoverisation and marginalisation have
increased. Instead of offering vast
opportunities to the worker what happened was the growing awareness that jobs
are becoming fewer and scarce. A vast
majority was denied access to jobs and land the gulf between the organised labour’s
also increased. More distressing than
any of these is the untold miseries industrialisation has brought in which led
to the sprouting up of slums – those veritable hells where humanity is crushed
beyond any sign of redemption. Introduction of high technology has inevitably
made agriculture, the oldest human profession, into an industrial
activity. This rendered many farm hands
surplus. Where do the labour forces
go? Inevitably, to the urban centres.
Bombay is the best example. Out of the
total population of the 10.5 million in 2000, six million are leading a
subhuman kind of living in these veritable infernos called slums.
The
socio-economic and political scenario all over the world has undergone
tremendous changes during the last five decades and a new culture has taken
over and the talks about the global village has also seem to have landed
humanity in a new mess-up in the sense many do not know what all these things
are. Traditional values, concerns and
strivings seem to have been replaced by a new set of attitudes and life-style
which are steeped in materialism and consumerism, assiduously propagated by the
champions of unlimited material progress and values, and attitudes associated
with Gandhi and other visionaries are being reduced to topics for academic
discussion in India.
On the
contrary, in several quarters outside India, peace activists, development
experts, scholars and writers of eminence are seriously looking at the legacy
of Gandhi, particularly the holistic vision of Gandhi and the emphasis and the
strategies associated with him, against the background of the emerging
challenges in various fields in the post-Gandhian period.
Discriminatory world-order
And it appears that at one go, humanity has
been seized by those who believe that economic growth is the real index of both
development and real power. While the power of money was never under-estimated
anywhere, never before in human history
everything is being measured in terms of per capita income or GNP or the
relative purchasing power or such other material considerations.
This pre-occupation which has created a
situation where family-ties, inter-personal, cultural, ethical, even religious
and social aspects have been relegated to the background, is really sending
shock waves all around. Nobody seems to be worried about the terrific manner in
which all aspects that sustain humanity and regulate growth and other issues
receive scant attention from those who control our lives. This has become a
universal phenomenon and no society or country can feel that the situation is
different with them.
Paradoxically, all what we hear is the talk
about sharing of wealth, arms reduction and nuclear non-proliferation by the
very same nations who produce all lethal weapons that could wipe out humanity
several times in the event of a war and advocating acceptance of NPT, which
several countries like India genuinely feel discriminatory in its present form.
The warning and spirited campaigns undertaken
by the environmentalists to stop many of the harmful steps by the managers of
our destiny receive practically no attention and unfortunately these warnings
by and large, remain cries in the wilderness.
Degradation of human being to the
level of a commodity
Another frightening aspect is the sad fact
that man is nowhere in the reckoning now. He has been pitiably reduced to the
status of a consumer and he is first and last a consumer now. His purchasing
power is all that matters. Similarly, the purchasing power of a nation is all
what the other nation now cares for. The talk in the world capitals are all
centred on the biggest markets in the world and our newspapers devote more than
a bulk of their space for market trends, stock markets and bullion rates while
a bulk of the remaining space in the news papers deal with violence of various
forms, political gossips, coup attempts, private life of celebrities and such
other hot items which would ensure a steady interest among the readers. The
readers, who are caught in the web of a violent culture and are force-fed by
the sweetmeat provided by an enticing consumerist culture, are also satisfied
by the ‘kick’ they get by reading these items. Why should they waste their time
on news and features about culture, art or development? This attitude,
unfortunately, seems to be gaining ground.
The galloping horses of humanity which are at
the moment being goaded and whipped to run as fast as they could in order to win
the coveted place of material achievements, have to be reigned in by an
awakened humanity which has the inalienable right to exist. But then, this will
be possible only if we are prepared to ponder over the immense damage being
caused to the edifice of humanity. It is not even slow poisoning we witness
now, it is almost like ‘sudden death’, to borrow an expression from football.
(ii)
Lessons from Gandhi
It is over six decades since Gandhi was
assassinated and there are all kinds of discussions both in India and abroad on
what Gandhi left for humanity and whether his teachings would survive the test
of time.
What even the passionate critic of Gandhi
cannot miss is the string of activities along Gandhian lines one can see in
almost all countries of the world now. If not in very significant measure,
there are very few countries in the world where something or other in the name
of Gandhi is not being organised. In short, there is a global nonviolent
awakening after Gandhi.
It is widely accepted now that the core of
the legacy Gandhi left for humanity, is that he taught us that truth is greater
than all worldly possessions, and that slavery, violence, injustice and
disparities are inconsistent with truth.
What Gandhi left is not a set of theoretical formulations, on the
contrary, a carefully evolved vision of an organically sound and mutually
supportive and respecting independent world order.
The six decades of Gandhi’s public life in
three continents, spearheading various movements for new social and political
milieu where all men and women will be treated as brothers and sisters,
demonstrated with convincing sincerity a revolutionary zeal for change – change
with consent – hitherto un-experimented in national or international politics.
Tolerance, consent, reconciliation and a profound faith in the unity of all
sentient and non-sentient beings have been the core of the Gandhian vision of a
world where harmony among the various segments of God’s creation would nurture
the essential goodness in each one – both the visible and invisible threads – uniting the entire humanity into a single
entity. Does this sound Utopian?
Yes,
quite a large number of people believe that the new social order Gandhi
envisioned is too idealistic and an unattainable utopia only fit enough for
academic and semantic interpretations.
Gandhi’s critique of the emerging
scenario
Gandhi warned humanity of this dangerous
situation as early as 1909 when he pointed out in the seminal work ‘Hind
Swaraj’, that unprincipled growth will land humanity on the brink of disaster.
Even his own close disciples raised their eye brows of disagreement when he
said this.
The evil that we are to fight is within us
and that we are ignorant of it is the basic problem. Motifs such as give and
take, live and let live, love and to be loved have become clichés in the new
dictionary compiled by the champions of unlimited growth. This can be possible
only if we adopt a holistic vision of life and ensure equality and justice
which presupposes the simple truth that each individual is unique and we should
respect his/her individuality and let him/her maintain each one’s uniqueness
and what applies to an individual should apply to a nation or at a global
level.
Gandhi further warned humanity against a
series of social and political turmoil, ecological devastation and other human
misery that might arise unless modern civilisation takes care of nature and man
tries to live in harmony with nature and strives to reduce his wants.
Unlimited-consumerist tendencies and callous indifferences to values will not
help humanity to progress towards peace, he warned. Hatred of all forms,
exploitation in whichever manner it exists, are negation of humanity’s basic
right to exist.
The Gandhian legacy of simple living in
conformity with the basic rhythm of life
typifies the age-old wisdom of humanity.
Gandhi also tries to convince humanity that
wars never solved any problem. On the contrary, reconciliation should help
humanity sort out the various problems. Thus, in Gandhi, as has been pointed
out by many thinkers in different parts of the world, we have a world leader
who dreamt of a warless world and promoter of a social order where exploitation
and injustice will not become the dominant tendencies.
Gandhi’s experiments in South
Africa and its contemporary relevance
Two of the important factors that brought
Gandhi closer to the millions are the genuine inspiration he was able to offer
to the freedom-loving citizens and the generation of a feeling among a
considerable section of the masses that he was motivated only by the spirit of
service and not by any personal or ulterior desires.
His South African experiments in 21 years won
him respects from even those who opposed him and those who never met him or
knew him.
Tolstoy’s comments that the initiatives of
Gandhi was in South Africa was the most important thing in the world at that
time, were a case in point.
Gandhi
demonstrated that the life of a leader should also be open, capable enough to
influence the masses so that they will also emulate the leader unreservedly.
Gandhi did both these with remarkable
success, which in turn resulted in millions following him like charmed moths.
The two settlements that Gandhi started in South Africa, the Phoenix Ashram and the Tolstoy Farm bear eloquent testimony to
the leadership qualities and the visionary nature of Gandhi which in turn
generated great understanding, sympathy and enthusiasm among almost all dumb
Indians and others in South Africa at the beginning of the twentieth century.
His life, both as an initiator of new
experiments and as a private individual and lawyer of great promise, were all
open. He was against anybody possessing anything more than what the other
person had. The members of the settlement ate in the common kitchen, worked in
the farm together, their children attended the general school and nobody
entertained or desired to accumulate or acquire anything of his own.
Not that Gandhi did not have problems in
this. It was initially difficult for him to convince even his own wife and
Gandhi was harsh when he detected that his wife had a few things of her own.
Gandhi’s children were disappointed and even they nourished an ambition of
attending better schools and pursuing their higher education outside South
Africa. Gandhi resisted all these attempts and insisted on his children
attending the same school where the children of other members of the settlement
were studying. He kept account of every pie that was spent. He stopped even
charging for his own services as a lawyer. All this, not only endeared him to
his followers but inspired them also to follow him as far as possible. This
naturally resulted in the generation of a kind of joy and willing participation
in the cause he was espousing.
The efficacy of Satyagraha
Back in India, the first major movement
Gandhi launched was in a place called Champaran, near Bodh Gaya, the hallowed
place associated with Shakyamuni Buddha. Gandhi’s visit to this sleepy village,
where he launched his first Satyagraha movement, also witnessed joyful
participation of the people in large numbers. He proved that people will
respond to any genuine call for action provided they are convinced that the
issues identified are their own and one who leads the movement should also be a
source of love, respect and dedication and in Gandhi his followers found these
qualities in abundance.
The Ahmedabad Mill strike, the Salt
Satyagraha, the Non-Cooperation Movement - all witnessed large number of people
jumping into the massive Civil Disobedience Movement sacrificing their wealth
and comfort and courting sufferings, injuries and sacrifice.
The songs sung by those who participated in
this heroic struggle extolled virtues of unprecedented magnitude. Nothing would
deter these people from marching forward. Jails were filled with satyagrahis
and schools and factories were also converted into temporary jails having found
no room to accommodate the surging and ever growing number of those who were
defying the orders of the Government. There were instances of prisoners being
sent out of the main land to the Andaman Islands. Facing bullets and even death
did not matter. It was the conviction, and that too, unmistakable and a grim
determination to march forward like inspired souls to achieve their goal, that
characterised their mood and by no means could it be described impulsive.
That was the spirit of those heroic days. In
this heroic struggle, the central figures who not only inspired all those who
participated, as also those who proved to be the sheet anchor of the resurging
fighting for self-discovery and articulation of their suppressed voice, were
Gandhi and those inspired by Gandhi.
This remarkable achievement was possible
because Gandhi convincingly demonstrated through his simple life that his
identification with the masses was complete.
Gandhi cannot be described to be a
philosopher in the conventional sense of the term. His views, mostly based on
his profound understanding of human nature and the insights he developed from
the numerous experiments he conducted with scientific precision, have been
found to be not a philosopher’s articulations but the records of the experience
of a visionary who was searching for ways and means to lessen tension and
promote harmony in the various spheres of human endeavour.
The breathtaking developments in the second
half of the last century proved that Gandhi was correct as Martin Luther King
(JR.) said, “If humanity is to progress,
Gandhi is inescapable. His life, thought and action are inspired by the vision
of a humanity evolving towards a world of peace and harmony. We may ignore him
at our own risk”.
The core of Gandhi’s scientific
humanism
By equating Gandhi with any saint or
philosopher who couched transcendental truth and spoke in riddles offering a
plethora of aphorisms, we will be missing the essential Gandhi. He was a
revolutionary in the sense that he aimed at changing certain social and
political structures but the means he adopted were not the usual violent
methods associated with revolutions.
Gandhi offers a package of
alternatives to humanity
Gandhi
also offered a package of alternatives to humanity. They include
From violence to nonviolence ;
Persuasion and reconciliation to end
hostilities;
Trusteeship to end economic injustice;
Improvement
of the lot of the depressed sections by abolishing factors that perpetrate
social iniquities;
Ending man’s
tyranny on nature by respecting nature as the protector of human race;
Limiting
one’s wants;
Developing
equal respect for all religions;
Women and
empowerment and rural development;
Use of
alternative sources of energy;
Appropriate
technology.
In
short, an ardent practitioner of truth that he was, Gandhi showed humanity that
there are workable alternatives which will be creative and sustainable.
The only thing in this is that we have to
muster courage to accept it, for it demands self and collective discipline of
various kinds. It is not the gratuitous and condescending offer of a bit of
whatever we are willing to part with that is required, but a willing and
spontaneous readiness to share with the less privileged fellowmen and women what
one has in excess and to work for happily ushering a new order.
The
Gandhian humanism was not restrictive but transcendental and scientific. To
describe it as revivalist reflects the closed minds of those who try to put all
creative and revolutionary ideas and efforts in straight- jackets.
It is said in certain quarters that Gandhi
was successful only to a limited extent that too his impact is felt only in
certain cultural context. There is no denying of the fact that Gandhi was
deep-rooted in his cultural and religious traditions. The phenomenal success
Gandhi registered in the far-away South Africa, fighting for human rights and
civil liberties in the first two decades of this century and later the adoption
of the Gandhian techniques, if not fully, by Nelson Mandela and the subsequent
revelations made by the former South African President Mr. de Klerk that he was
also influenced by Gandhi in adopting the path of reconciliation and
forgiveness, certainly show that Gandhi had not spent twenty-one years in South
Africa in vain.
In the American continent, Martin Luther
King’s heroic fight for civil liberties on the Gandhian lines and his own
admission that it was from Gandhi that he learnt his operational tactics also
is not an isolated instance of the relevance of the Gandhian tactics. The
manner in which the Greens, particularly in Germany, adopted Gandhian
techniques to arouse human consciousness and how they operationalized their
strategy, and the bold assertions made by Petra Kelly about the way they were
influenced by Gandhi, also indicate that it is not the cultural traditions of a
country or continent that would make the efficacy of certain philosophy or
attitude viable, but it is the willingness and readiness of people to react and
respond that matters.
One can give quite a few instances from
almost all parts of the world to show how in different measures the Gandhian
vision and approach is found to be an effective weapon in the hands of freedom
fighters and social reformers.
Gandhi at no stage claimed that he was trying
to teach anything new. In fact, he himself said more than once that he was not
involved in any such mission. Truth and nonviolence, he said, are as old as the
hills and he was only trying to appreciate and understand the marvel and
majesty of both. He said in this connection, “We have to make truth and
nonviolence, not matters for mere individual practice, but for practice by
groups and communities and national. That at any rate is my dream. I shall live
and die in trying to realise it. My faith helps me to discover new truths every
day. Ahimsa is the attribute to the soul, therefore life practised by everybody
in all affairs of life”.
Dismantling of apartheid in South
Africa - message for rest of the world to end social discrimination including
practice of untouchability in India
There is a surprising similarity between
UNESCO’s statement in its preamble that since wars begin in the minds of men,
it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed and
Mahatma Gandhi’s assertion that the world either progresses with nonviolence or
perishes with violence. Mahatma Gandhi’s heroic work in South Africa for full
21 years and over 32 years of work in India have given humanity a blue print of
strategies for a peaceful transition of humanity where respect for all forms of
life, human dignity, self-respect and tolerance would characterise humanity’s
progress.
The year 1994 bore witness to the efficacy of
Gandhi’s strategies and philosophy as could be seen from the manner in which
the fight Gandhi began a 100 years ago in South Africa i.e. in 1903 bearing
fruits when the blacks and the whites in South Africa were able to work out a
satisfactory solution to peaceful transfer of power which resulted in the
holding of elections and Dr. Mandela taking over the reign of power.
Spiritualisation of Politics
Gandhi’s contribution to the political
awakening and freedom movement in different parts of the world and adoption of
nonviolent strategies, which help both the opposing groups respect each other’s
sentiments and accommodating the views of others, has much in common with
UNESCO’s decision to propagate the message of tolerance for human survival.
Asia and the African continent particularly have seen peaceful transition of
power and social change, thanks to Mahatma Gandhi’s initiative which included
different methods. One important thing that keeps apart Gandhi’s teachings and
strategies is the utmost importance Gandhi attached to pure means to attain
lasting ends.
Gandhi’s attempts to make politics value
based were part of a new world vision. He emphasised that politics bereft of
spiritual and ethical consideration will not sustain humanity.
The unending savagery of ethnic cleansing in
erstwhile Yugoslavia, rediscovery of war as a “ realistic means” to resolve
conflicts, proliferation of sources and targets of violence and the deepening
socio-economic divide between and within nations despite the widening of the
boundaries of democracy has triggered a new awakening. This is evident in the
quest for a new paradigm rooted in Gandhian values and a negation of the
virtues of developmentalism, discredited socialism and reformed capitalism.
Bosnia, the most obvious but not the only
conflict, haunting post-Cold War-Europe, serves as an illustration of the
search for solutions to the many guises of ‘barbarism’ which have caused the
continent to move away from western
intellectual tradition to a deeper study of Mahatma Gandhi, his philosophy and
the contemporary relevance of his political ‘arts’ and ‘skills’.
With successive multi-nation peace missions
coming a cropper, peace activists, political scientists, social critics and
philosophers are at the force, canvassing that nonviolence and Gandhian form of
intervention alone hold out hope of political peace.
The most celebrated quote among European
peace activists and scholars is, Gandhi’s retort on being asked his view of
western civilisation, “ it would be a good idea”.
Extensive research on Gandhi is on in several
Western universities. There is a belief that Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence
humbles the arrogance of modern civilisation and values. Pioneering work to
delineate nonviolent ways of intervention for peace and human rights is gaining
acceptance. The question ‘what is the way to peace’ is sought to be answered in
Gandhian dictum – ” There is no way to peace,
peace is the way”. Getting this message across is not easy in a milieu
where even peace-keeping is militarised and Gandhian social and political
values are ignored as archaic. But that is precisely what the whole political
revival and intellectual ferment is about.
Gandhi and global nonviolent
awakening
Why is the world turning to Gandhi? The
reasons are many.
The
ideological battle lines of the Cold War between competing social orders have
disappeared with the demolition of the Berlin Wall and the demise of socialism.
This has resulted in a vacuum, which discourages exploration of alternatives.
That the model of development being imposed by elites is removed from popular
aspiration, is borne out by the success of the Green movement. The success of
the Greens underscores the failure and rejection of the Western model of
development against which Gandhi had warned humanity as early as the first
decade of the 20th century.
The Green perspectives on development has
radicalised politics by creating an awareness of ecological risks and forcing a
genuine search for global solutions. Groups inspired by Gandhi are now seeking
to widen the relevance of Mahatma’s teachings to encompass issues of peace,
human rights, economic equality and democracy. They are convinced that it was
the Gandhian critique of industrial economics, which earned the Greens a global
constituency. It is a search to communicate and revive a sense of community
among peoples.
The growing appeal of this search attests to
“Gandhism” being seen as a wider societal prescription as a political approach
that could overcome not only military and ethnic conflicts but also address the
violence of the confrontation between state and civil society, the economic
imbalances created by “ development” and the resultant social tensions rooted
in cultural antagonisms.
The rationale is that nonviolent resistance
has brought deeper changes from the build-up to the overthrow of the Shah of
Iran and Macros in the Philippines to the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia
and the uprising in East Germany. A Hungarian speaking minority in Slovakia,
deprived of education in their language and resorting to ‘Civil-disobedience’
is cited as an example of ongoing Gandhian struggles.
The market and its instruments such as the
EEC, are ill-equipped to deal with aspirations for peace, democracy and human
rights because they have reduced these values to economic interests. Hence, the
overriding need to socially re-locate these as values in a new political
framework, namely Gandhism.
Growing violence and dehumanising
hunger
What would Gandhi have done in the face of
widespread violence, hunger, inequality are questions often asked.
Communication is critical and yet it seems to be missing despite the technology
at hand. This shifts the focus back to Gandhi. As a communicator he would have
gone to the people, is one answer. He effortlessly united people across
barriers of literacy, language, ethnic identity, class, caste and privilege.
Somewhere in this answer could be clues to transgress the social divisions that
are threatening the whole world or at least this is the hope inspired by
Gandhism.
Such enquiries, however hesitant, bear
testimony to the vigour and insight that informs the quest for a new vision being
shaped by the mahatma.
Today, Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy is looked
as a live experience with potential for transformation leading to a Global Awakening.
From the general attitude towards Gandhi as
the chief architect of India’s nonviolent freedom movement and as someone who
interprets nonviolence as a new idiom the international community has been
showing signs of analysing Gandhian options very seriously, as the previous
century came to close and many of the overriding political and philosophical positions
were either proved to be defective or died their natural death. From Martin
Luther King Jr. to Aung San Suu Kyi, the list of freedom fighters,
nationalists, Human Right activists, environmentalists, feminists and the whole
with honour and dignity have shown a remarkable understanding of the growing
relevance of means Gandhi adopted and the vision and legacy bequeathed to
humanity.
Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam
It is widely acknowledged now that
Gandhi, who through his innovative approaches and daring initiatives, succeeded
in initiating a new era in human history, an era which signifies man’s immense
potentiality to rise above narrow considerations and to strive for ushering in
a new level of achievement.
The new methods, strategies and ideas
Gandhi successfully demonstrated influenced not only the freedom fighters and
social reformers of most of the continents but also those who are involved in
the serious search for alternatives in their efforts to sustain all what is
dear to humanity.
The Gandhian vision of holistic
development and respect for all forms of life – nonviolent conflict resolution
embedded in the acceptance of non-violence both as a creed and strategy – were
an extension of the ancient Indian concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. The much talked about concept of global
human family and humanity’s effort to dismantle manmade barriers among nations
peoples and the Indian ideals of Vasudhaiva
Kutumbakam as enshrined in the Vedic and Upanishad wisdom, are almost the
same. Long before the West talked about global human family the Indian
philosophy was suffused with such noble visions as “ yaadum oore,yavarum
kelir”.
It is true that Gandhi always began at
the micro level, but then, his vision surpassed the exigencies of local or
national barriers. Gandhi said, “It is
impossible for one to be internationalist without being a nationalist... I do
want to think in terms of the whole world.
My patriotism includes the good of mankind in general. Therefore, my
service of India includes the service of humanity”.
The Gandhian
vision of society does not recognise man-made barriers but at the same time as
Gandhi often insisted while we should welcome all that is best in other
traditions when we allow the winds of other cultures to blow in, we should
refuse to be swept off our feet. This indicates that one cannot be
internationalist without being a nationalist. Gandhi once said,
“My mission
is not merely the brotherhood of Indian humanity. My mission is not merely freedom of India,
though today it undoubtedly engrosses practically the whole of my life and the
whole of my time. The true realization of freedom of India, I hope, would
realise and carry on the mission of the brotherhood of man. My patriotism is not an exclusive thing. It is all embracing and I should reject
patriotism which sought to mount upon the distress or the exploitation of other
nationalities. I want to realise
brotherhood or identity not merely with the being called human, but I want to realise identity with all life,
even with such thing as that crawl on earth”.
It is this vision of the
Mahatma and the ceaseless strivings he undertook through the numerous
experiments he conducted which endeared him to millions of his countrymen and
others who joyfully threw themselves into the vortex of one of the glorious
movements in human history. The nonviolent national struggle for freedom waged
under Mahatma Gandhi had the able support of a galaxy of such illustrious men
and women of the century like Rabindranath Tagore, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose,
Rajagopalachari, Pt.Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Azad, Sardar Patel, Sarojini
Naidu, Dr. Rajendra Prasad and several thousand others.
Gandhi knew
no fear and he released his country from fear and inducted into his countrymen
fearlessness and offered them brave initiatives for social transformation which
saw India taking courageous steps in the dismantling of some of the age-old
customs and practices such as untouchability.
The manner in which a vast majority of Indians, who were segregated in
the name of this dehumanising practice and how they came up in life in the
post-independence era, speaks volumes of the impact Gandhi created on the
Indian psyche to initiate steps to ensure social justice.
It is
generally believed that Gandhi opened a new era by convincingly demonstrating
that there is an alternative to the politics of confrontation, violence,
manipulation and to the disregard of human sentiments--love and compassion in
action.
He also showed that in the non-violent form of
protest and fight he was leading there was no room for hate, violence and one
should able to stand up courageously and fight without hating those against the
fight is directed. He said again and
again that his fight was only against the British system which allows
imperialism and exploitation and not against the British. The way India and Britain parted company in
1947 speaks volumes of Gandhi’s influence on both the rulers in Britain and the
Indian nationalists fighting for freedom.
It was the first-ever happy parting of ways in recent times between the
masters of a colony and-the nationalists who were fighting for freedom. Gandhi was the unquestioned leader of the
Indian masses who but for Gandhi would have resorted to the extreme form of
violence in realizing the goal of freedom.
There is no parallel in human history of several hundred millions of
freedom-loving people marching towards their cherished goal without shedding
blood. It was the triumph of human will
over forces of oppression and injustice.
It was an indication that human revolution is possible through dynamic
leadership and that a true revolution need not be violent.
Gandhi in the cyber age and in
the context of Globalisation
What is the relevance of Gandhi in this all
pervading materialistic, agnostic and consumerist culture?
It is
precisely these three tendencies Gandhi fought in all his life. It is a fact of
history that repudiation of one philosophy at a given time does not mean the death
or irrelevance of it. The men and women who moved the world were mostly either
crucified, burnt alive, or were branded heretic, or excommunicated. Still
independent inquiry and pursuit of truth and to express themselves against
injustice were continued in all ages, probably with added vigour. The
irreversible fact of history, again, is that the list of such ‘rebels’ steadily
grow despite all attempts to ward off the perceived threat..
Development without justice and compassion?
Energy which
is so essential to all industrial
processes is increasingly found to be one of the most important variables
measuring economic activities. Solar energy in its varied forms, wind-generated
electricity, bio-gas, solar collectors, photo-voltaic cells, etc. will inevitably
lead to the emergence of a Solar Age beyond its technological meaning. Henderson visualises with the shift in
emphasis on the Petroleum Age and the industrial-era, the emergence of a new
culture. This culture includes the ecology movements, the women’s movement and
the peace movement.
An
examination of the views and practices of Gandhi and J.C.Kumarappa and the
theories of Schumacher, Henderson and Capra, in the light of what is described
today as Sustainable Development, a term so vogue, and heard from almost
everybody who has anything to do with preservation of life of earth, would
reveal the amazing fact that in Gandhian thought and action, humanity has
sufficient tools it needs for sustainable development. As early as 1909, through his little book ‘Hind Swaraj’, Gandhi drew
humanity’s attention to what might happen to the globe if proper check is not
imposed in the various strategies and alternatives we examine. Gandhi said, “I must confess that I do not draw
a sharp line or any distinction between economics and ethics. Economics that hurts the moral well-being of
an individual or a nation is immoral and, therefore, sinful”. This indicates that sustainable development
requires both biological and cultural diversity which in turn is inescapably
linked to justice and compassion, toward each other and to the nature.
“We notice
that the mind is a restless bird. The more it gets, the more it wants, and
still remains unsatisfied. The more we indulge in our passions, the more
unbridled they become. Our ancestors, therefore, set a limit to our indulgence.
They saw that happiness was largely a mental condition. A man is not
necessarily happy because he is rich, or unhappy because he is poor.” Gandhi
had written in his little classic Hind Swaraj that was published when the
twentieth century was just being ushered in.
We are
fostering a system which has inbuilt iniquities, power, wealth, knowledge and
we have a culture/civilization bereft of any trace of compassion. It has all
the trappings of Casino Capitalism which has infinite power to entice humanity
through its charm.
We go on
blaming science and technology but how many of us care to realise that
technology by itself has no will. It is the social will which determines. The
aeroplane which carry passengers can carry bombs.
Gandhi
emphasised credible alternatives which the proponents of the present day
corporate values assiduously seek to strengthen. Let us look at some of the
principles Gandhi believed are of paramount importance.
1) Against the
multiplication of wants, Gandhi suggested limitation of wants.
2) Instead of
diffusion of large scale technology, Gandhi was in favour of large scale
technology in few sectors co-existing with small scale technology and
handicrafts in others.
3) Against mass
production, Gandhi favoured production by the masses and small scale production
except in a few sectors where mass production is unavoidable.
4) Gandhi was
not in favour of centralisation of economic power. He favoured limited state
ownership, wide-spread village ownership and trusteeship.
5) Rapid
urbanisation did not find favour with Gandhi. He advocated self-governing
village republics, self-sufficient in basic needs.
6) Inequality
of all types particularly in wages, social justice and in gender reflects where
there is denial of natural justice according to Gandhi.
7) As against
increasing specialisation, Gandhi favoured universal physical labour.
By no
stretch of imagination can anyone say that these are moral prescriptions by an
orthodox social reformer. On the contrary, they reflect the profound
understanding of a revolutionary thinker, philosopher activist, whose vision in
life was steeped in pragmatism, love, compassion and change with consent.
A student, a
couple of weeks who, when asked at an interview for his views on relevance of
Gandhi in the twenty-first century had the courage to look at the examiner and
politely tell him: “Sir, I wish you had asked me to tell you why Gandhi is more
relevant today.”
I hope we
will have the wisdom of this teenager in understanding the challenges facing us
today.
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